Okay
by carlyinorange
Summary: Years after Shadow Magic, Ishizu returns to Domino looking for a better life. She hooks up with her lost love and when they decide to see this as their second chance at happiness, Rare Hunters see it as their chance to hurt everyone! Seto Kaiba x Ishizu
1. Friends in the City

**Before You Read...**

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ is owned by its creator, Kazuki Takahashi ©1996 and not by this writer

Kindness: Please bear in mind that this is my first romance story EVER.

Background Info: This story takes place when Yugi and Téa are 20. Therefore Ishizu is 24, Rishid 32, and Marik also 20.

**One – Friends in the City**

Ishizu sighed as she watched her foolish brothers toil in the hot Egyptian sun, thinking about God-knows-what. Since she had parted with her friends from Domino City after the repose of the Pharaoh, her friend Atem, she had come into contact with Yugi's friend Téa Gardner, who was sappily melodramatic at times but a nice girl. Téa had been elated to hear from Ishizu, and had invited her up to Domino City to stay in her apartment. Ishizu had since lost her job as Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities because of the time she had been forced to take off in Battle City—the Egyptian government would not understand that she had been out saving the world—and now she was living a shameful existence—unable to find work anywhere—relying on her brothers, Marik and Odion, who still had their jobs.

_Come on_, Téa's email read. _I'll help you find a job. Just come up to Domino, and trust me. It'll be nice to see you...I'm sure Yugi would feel the same way! Please? It'll be great!_

Well, her brothers couldn't support her forever, and she did eventually need to have her own life...away from her siblings..._like people do_, she thought. Lately she had been making herself out to be a dreg of society and a twenty-four-year-old burden on her family. _Maybe Téa really can help me_, she thought. She smiled as she read the email again. Téa still talked like a teenager, judging from the text—well, really she wasn't much older than that. She was probably in college, or at least training full-time at some studio of dance...Ishizu smiled to think that Téa had an artistic passion. She, Ishizu, had never been allowed something like that. She hoped that, if she went, Téa and her other friends in Domino could teach her something new about herself.

So Marik and Odion accompanied Ishizu to the airport. They hugged her—teary-eyed—_babies_, Ishizu thought fondly. She loved her brothers and hated to leave them but there was no other choice. They were all growing too old to stay together like little children.

_And she would see him again_, she thought—the deciding factor had great root in that possibility. Ishizu boarded the plane, and took off for Japan, where she would see her friends again. She opened her laptop and (because there was Internet on the plane) found Téa's blog again.

_JULY 19 – YAY!!_

_I am so excited to see my friend Ishizu! She lives in __Egypt__, and I haven't seen her in a few years! I am so glad she is coming to live with me and my roommate Cicely in __Domino_ _City_

That was odd. Téa didn't say anything about a roommate. As she read on Ishizu couldn't imagine girly dancer Téa ever striking up a friendship with tomboy duelist Cicely Moretti—who used a dark Spellcaster Deck. She learned a lot about Cicely through Téa's blog—Cicely seemed like a nice person—but intimidating to Ishizu. While Ishizu was a quiet soul, Cicely was the biggest rock phenomenon Domino City had ever seen. But there were other things they'd have in common: both loved to read, both studied and admired Ancient Egypt, and (Ishizu's heart sank) both had lost a great potential love because they had denied it.

Ishizu's heart went out to Cicely Moretti immediately and she worried no more. The poor girl was really just another human being, a personal quality that she, Ishizu, had long ago had to defy to save herself and others. Téa wrote that Cicely was brave, strong, and tough; and that she had never lost an honest duel—even won some pretty unfair ones.

A few days later, in Domino City, a small young man gazed timidly into the mirror, as though dejectedly confronting it. _Gee, it looked so much better when Atem used it_, he thought, of the image therein—and heaved a sigh. Though Yugi was strong and sweet, he was still very much lamenting the loss of his best friend—the Pharaoh Atem, even though it had been a few years. Though Atem had shown Yugi courage, neither of them had ever had any guts when it came to _girls_. Yugi chucked fondly, remembering this...the brave Atem was reduced to juvenile cowardice when it came to girls!

His tiny hand reached for the telephone but he hesitated—would calling Téa be a good idea? He didn't know. So he would try it. _When in doubt, give it a go! _That was the Pharaoh's motto, at any rate.

"Hello?" said a soft yet resonating voice, as if its owner were in a daze.

"Uh—hi," Yugi said. "I think I've got the wrong number."

"Yugi Moto?" the voice asked. Yugi felt the magenta hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Uh—who is this?" he said.

"This is Ishizu Ishtar," the voice said. Yugi felt surprised.

"Ishizu?" Yugi repeated. "What are you doing at Téa's place? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yes, everything is fine, my friend," Ishizu's voice replied. "Do you wish to speak with Téa? Because she is not around right now...she's working overtime tonight."

"Oh," Yugi said. "So did you meet Cicely?"

"Cicely—no, I have not," Ishizu said. "She has been on a tour of Italy with some friends from New York, and she won't be back till this evening. Why? What is she like?"

"She's nice," Yugi said. "She reads a lot, goes to school for journalism but we all think she should duel for a living, had a horrible parting in New York with a great potential boyfriend two years ago...and she's a Christian."

"Oh!" Ishizu said. "What should I make for dinner? What do the girls like?"

"Well, there is nothing Cicely loves in the world so much as she loves chicken Caesar wraps at the diner…Téa and she usually go Dutch treat," Yugi said. "But, Ishizu—will you do me a favor? When they come home today, invite them to come to the diner—I'll pay for everyone."

Ishizu sensed Yugi's anxiousness. "Would you like your own table with Téa? That way I could get to know Cicely."

"Thanks, Ishizu," Yugi said. "And please—don't tell anyone?" He sounded a little apprehensive now that he had told someone else of his feelings for Téa Gardner. Ishizu laughed. Yugi's heart sank.

"Oh, Yugi, I beg your forgiveness—but I've never had any experience in romance...I'm new to it, and I think you're sweet. And it will be my honor to help you win Téa over, though I'm sure you already have. Please, Yugi, I'll have never been sorrier in my life if I hurt you...please, can you forgive me?"

"It's not as big a deal as you're making it, Ishizu," Yugi said. "But it's okay. Of course I forgive you. You're my friend. I heard you're going through a rough time, too. Is there anything I can do?"

"No, but you are most kind," Ishizu replied. "Is there anything I can do for you, you know, apart from asking out a girl for you?"

"No, thanks, Ishizu. What are you doing right now?" Yugi asked. "Would you like to go somewhere with me?"

Ishizu thought about it. She decided to use a modern slang. "Okay," she said at length. Yugi could almost hear her triumphant grin at the prospect of still having friends in Domino City. He smiled too.


	2. Capturing Kaiba

**Two – Capturing Kaiba**

"Now it's your turn, Ishizu," Yugi said.

"Huh—?" Ishizu had allowed herself to be caught by surprise.

"It's _your_ turn to tell _me_ who _you_ like," Yugi said patiently.

"Oh," Ishizu said. "That's hardly important—"

"I told you...!"

Her friends had not really grown up since last she saw them, had they? Were they all mentally locked within their early teens?

"Okay," she said, wondering dimly how it was that she was able to lose her somber countenance and mystique so quickly. "I'll give you a hint, then." She didn't have to think about this one, and she knew Yugi wouldn't either. "He has big, beautiful blue eyes—but they're full of wrath, anger, and great power...and so does his favorite card."

"You like _Kaiba_!?" Yugi hissed.

Ishizu felt the blood rush to her face. "Shhh!" she hissed back.

"Sorry," Yugi said. "It's just—_wow_! I never knew that!"

"Do you think he ever liked me?"

"Well, you came as close as anyone," Yugi replied. By this time, the sun had begun to go down, and Yugi was supposed to pick up Cicely.

"I have to go and pick up Cicely soon," he told Ishizu. "At Domino City Airport. Would you like to come with me?"

"Sure," Ishizu said, and they took a cab to the airport. They only waited about a half hour before Cicely's plane came in. Cicely was dirty-blonde and bespectacled. She wore a T-shirt that read 'SAVE THE SEA MONKEYS' in block print, and a gold crucifix. She carried a guitar case and her purse.

They went to find her large suitcase. Ishizu carried Cicely's guitar case as they became instant friends. Yugi liked watching others become friends.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it tonight, Cicely," Téa said as the four entered the diner. Yugi, as promised, got to sit alone with Téa. Ishizu and Cicely sat happily in a booth of their own as well.

"Western-style food..." Ishizu said as she peered at the menu. She cast her eyes up at Cicely from across the table, a little shown up, so as to ask for help reading a menu at age twenty-four. Cicely, however, smiled kindly, and switched to the seat beside Ishizu to help her understand the menu.

"It's okay," she said. "You forget that I was just in a country that wasn't home myself, and in fact I still am. I was born in Connecticut, though I'm forever a New Yorker, and now I live in Japan for school, just come back from vacation in Italy. I know how it feels to feel out-of-place. Look, when I was in Italy for the past two weeks, my sister Caterina had to help me figure out what all the food was. I know it's hard being a stranger in a strange land."

"Thank you," Ishizu said. "When I first heard Téa had a roommate, I felt a little intimidated. I had no idea how sweet you would be. Are you really three years younger than she is?"  
"Yeah," Cicely replied.

"Téa talks a lot about you on her blog," Ishizu said.

"I know," Cicely said. "I read it to help keep up with her when I had no email in Tuscany."

Ishizu smiled. Cicely looked over the menu. "Do you have any food allergies?"

"No; not that I know of."

"How about religious fasting?"

"No—I don't really have a religion anymore."

"Are you a vegetarian, or a Vegan?"

"Not really."

"Okay, so...uh—do you like chicken?"

Ishizu smiled. "I'm open to new things."

Cicely smiled back. "I'm glad. Get my favorite thing in the world, then."

"Okay," Ishizu said.

Cicely ordered two chicken Caesar wraps with French fries, coleslaw, and Diet Coke. Then she turned back to Ishizu.

"So...you have two brothers in Egypt?"

"Yes," Ishizu replied. "Odion is eight years older than I and Marik is four years younger."

"That's nice that you're all so close..." Cicely said almost wistfully. "Norman's family is like that."

"Who's Norman?" Ishizu asked.

"He could have been my boyfriend for years, but I pushed him away, because my best friend liked him too. Now I don't have a relationship with either of them."

"Oh," Ishizu said. "I know exactly how you feel. I pushed away a potential boyfriend too. But he pushed me away first."

"Doesn't it suck, Ishizu?" Cicely said. Ishizu looked perplexed. "Isn't it horrible?" her new friend reworded it.

"Yes! Oh, heavens, yes," Ishizu responded. Cicely was patient, it seemed.

"Do you Duel?" Cicely asked her.

"Not professionally," Ishizu replied. "I made it to the Battle City finals, but that's about it."

"What kind of Deck do you use?"

"Oh, I use Fairy and Strategy," Ishizu responded. "You?"

"Spellcaster and Faith," Cicely said. "I have two new cards I have searched the world over for. They're both the same, but they're my sig. And I had one of him before that."

The door to the diner opened and a thin brunette with short hair walked inside. She wore a badge which read DAPHNE VERONA, SET DESIGNER in large letters. "Hi, Cicely," she said, as she sat down at the table. "I didn't expect to find you here. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Ishizu Ishtar," Cicely said. "Ishizu, this is Daphne Verona, my friend from New York. She lives with us."

"Hi, Ishizu," Daphne said. "It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, I'm sure," Ishizu replied warmly.

"Daphne, we've already ordered—sorry, we didn't know to expect you—!"

"That's quite alright," Daphne said. "So, Ishizu, are you a duelist?"

"An amateur," Ishizu replied. "Are you?"

"Oh, no, not me," Daphne said. "I do work experience at Domino Theatre."

"Ishizu is going to be living with us," Cicely said.

"That's awesome!"

Suddenly the diner doors opened again, and inside stepped two young men—one twenty and one about fifteen. The former had short brown hair and his counterpart had long black hair. The first young gent wore a sweeping silver trench.

"That's Seto Kaiba," Cicely said as she slurped her drink.

"I know," Ishizu said. "I've been up here before...I Dueled Kaiba in the Battle City Finals. Cicely, _he's_ my Norman."

"Sorry," Cicely said, "I still think the guy's a major jerk. You're too good for him, Ishizu."


	3. Sexy Seto

**Three – Sexy Seto**

"Go say hi if you want to," Cicely suggested, cocking her head toward the Kaiba brothers. Daphne looked confused.

"I can't," Ishizu said. "I'm sure we'll run into him again sometime."

"Whatever," Cicely said. But it was Kaiba to come over to the table of girls.

"Ishizu—what brings you back to Domino City?" he said.

"I'm here on business," she replied curtly.

"I've already heard it through the grapevine that you no longer have a job," Kaiba sneered in reply. Ishizu flushed. "Oh, please don't tell me you're living with the friendship-sap squad also?"

"And what if I am?" Ishizu challenged him.

"Well, you've probably found someone to believe your cock-and-bull fairy tales at any rate," he snapped back at her. "Anyway, I've been hoping I'd see you here. I'm sponsoring another Battle City Tournament. I want you to watch me beat Yugi."

"Hello, Kaiba," came a brave but shrill voice from behind him.

Kaiba was a man now who could crush tiny Yugi with his little finger. He stared directly down at him. Yugi didn't move a muscle. "I didn't hear about this tournament of yours. Do tell."

"Not now, dork," Kaiba said, and turned back to Ishizu. "Enter the tournament...and I'll see you around."

"Okay," Ishizu said. She looked breathless.

Kaiba dropped a pamphlet in front of the girls and turned to go back to his own table.

"He wants me to see him beat Yugi?" Ishizu repeated.

"It sounds a little suspicious to me," Daphne said with a wry grin. Ishizu smiled back. "I'd better get my Deck together."

"The prize money is five million dollars!" Cicely whispered in surprise.

That night Ishizu was settled into Cicely's room because Cicely was the only one with a trundle bed. Cicely would sleep on the trundle. She also called Kaiba Corp to ask how someone would go about entering the tournament. Kaiba's little brother Mokuba picked up (because Téa somehow had a number that went directly to a Kaiba brother.)

"Oh, hi, Cicely," he said, when he realized who it was. "The tournament...just come here to Kaiba Corp on Saturday morning. But hurry. It's only going to be the first two-hundred duelists who show up to get in."

"Okay, thanks," Cicely said. Ishizu waited with bated breath. Cicely hung up and looked around at the others. "We need to get there _early_ Saturday morning. I guess, Téa and Daphne, since you aren't duelists, you could sleep in—"

"Yay!" Daphne cheered, jokingly.

Cicely looked at Ishizu for comfort. "This means we only have two days till the tournament begins."

"Let's practice," Ishizu suggested. The two of them took up their Duel Disks and went outside. Téa and Daphne followed, looking curious.

"You go first, Cicely," Ishizu said. Cicely nodded as the both of them drew cards. Cicely studied her hand.

"I summon the Mystical Elf in Defense Mode!" she cried. Suddenly a blonde, blue-skinned hologram appeared on the field.

"That was a wise move for a first turn," Ishizu observed. Cicely obviously knew the rules of the game.

"And I play two cards face-down. That ends my turn."

Ishizu studied Cicely's side of the field. An interesting way to start off, she thought. "Alright, Cicely," she said. "I'm going to play one card face-down and one monster in face-down defense mode."

"Okay—it's my turn," Cicely said. "I'm going to play the Shield and Sword Magic Card. This switches Mystical Elf's Attack and Defense points. Mystical Elf, attack her face-down monster!"

"My face-down Monster was an Effect Monster known as Kelbek," Ishizu said. "Its Effect forces your Mystical Elf back to your hand, though I still lose two-thousand Life Points, and my Monster is sent to my Graveyard. Go on."

"Very well," Cicely said. "I'm now going to play what I think is my rarest Magic Card: Graceful Charity. Graceful Charity allows me to draw three cards from my Deck, as long as I discard two cards after. I'm also going to summon Neo the Magic Swordsman and attack your Life Points directly!"

"Ugh!" Ishizu said, as she took the blow and her Life Points went down from six-thousand to forty-three hundred.

"That ends my turn," Cicely said.

_She has two relatively-weak Spellcasters on the Field_, Ishizu thought. _She specializes in collecting Spellcasters, too, I hear. And I've only ever lost one Duel in my life...to Seto._

_But what about her face-down cards?_ Ishizu evaluated. Those might be traps, and Ishizu was already losing, and it was only her second turn! The way her Deck had been shuffled was pathetic. She felt a little ashamed. But she still had a chance!

Cicely got her Mystical Elf back on the field in the next few turns as well.

"I'm going to play Agido in attack mode," Ishizu said. "And I play Card Destruction. Hopefully this will improve my unfortunate hand. For now, I shall end my turn."

Cicely studied her hand. Her signature Monster smiled up at her. His triplets were somewhere else in her Deck. From what she, Cicely, knew, there were only five of these in the world. When she had defeated Pegasus with her old various Deck, he had given her two. This one, the third, she got at Yugi's grandfather's game shop by trading in her Black Luster Soldier and Ritual cards. Mr. Moto had called it an unfair trade, and she had a feeling that her monster had gone straight to Solomon's Deck, as it was the old man's favorite card, but he had never actually come across one. "Well, you've given me my favorite too, Mr. Moto," Cicely had said earnestly. "I'll take good care of him."

Cicely smiled as she thought of that moment. Her grin gave her away.

" Watch out, Ishizu!" Téa called. Ishizu knew then that this turn would define Cicely's strategy.

"I sacrifice both my Monsters," Cicely said, "to play my good friend and favorite card and Monster, the Dark Magician!"

Ishizu gasped. So _this_ must be Cicely's signature Monster...the Dark Magician. She was so much like Yugi. But it gave Ishizu's signature strategy a more profound purpose. She was actually grateful for this manifestation of Cicely's plans so early in the game. What with her tragically-shuffled Deck, and the exposure of Cicely's secretive strategy and newly built Deck unbeknownst even to her closest friends, Ishizu had to think that they were pretty evenly matched. The level of skill was about equal, though Cicely secretly feared that Ishizu was the better Duelist here...would Cicely take Ishizu's bait, and attack Agido?

But Cicely thought for a moment. Why had Ishizu left Agido in attack mode...and why had she not attacked? Clearly she was hoping that Cicely would attack her Monster instead. But it had been a while since Cicely had dueled against someone who held an Agido. Since then she had forgotten its effect...but she knew one was there. Well, there was only one way to find out—annihilate Agido!

"Thank you for that," Ishizu said. "Now we roll a die. The number on the die is the level Fairy Monster I may resurrect from my Graveyard. If I roll a six, my Monster may be even higher than that."

She closed her eyes as the die was rolled. Three—no, it kept going; five—nope; bull's-eye: the die stopped rolling at six.

"I believe you recalled how I played Card Destruction. I sent Wingweaver to my Graveyard. I also believe it is slightly more powerful than your Dark Magician."

The Dark Magician seemed to wince himself. Ishizu suggested Cicely switch to Defense Mode.

"No; I'll just play one card face-down and conclude my turn."

Ishizu was perplexed. She decided to attack Cicely's Dark Magician.

"You've activated Michizure, my Trap Card!" Cicely said. When my Monster is sent to the Graveyard, I can destroy one monster on your side of the field...say so-long to Wingweaver."

"That was a wise move," Ishizu said. "Now I'll summon Mudora in Defense Mode, and end my turn. But since there are five Fairies in my Graveyard, Mudora's attack strength is boosted to twenty-five hundred—equal to your Dark Magician."

"I play Monster Reborn, and bring _back_ my Dark Magician. I also summon Rogue Doll in Defense Mode. _And _I'm also going to play one card face-down."

It seemed to Ishizu that her new friend was planning to sacrifice very soon. But to place Rogue Doll in face-up mode was foolish! But did she _want _Ishizu to attack it? Ishizu did not want to find out the hard way, though there was no other option if she wanted to prevent this sacrifice.

"First I summon Silpheed and attack your Rogue Doll!"

"Activate Trap Card Shift!" Cicely exclaimed. "This Trap allows me to switch your Silpheed's attack to any other monster on the field...and I choose my Dark Magician."

"Interesting move," Ishizu observed. Cicely thought she saw her friend smile. "That was clever, Cicely—I'll give you that."

Cicely grinned back. "Gee, thanks, Ishizu!"

Ishizu sighed as her Life Points took a dive. Silpheed's hologram was no more. Ishizu brushed a piece of hair out from her eyes and studied Cicely...though young, a calculating opponent who intrepidly evaluated every option till she was sure there was none left. Maybe it was just the way her Deck was shuffled, but Ishizu could tell that Cicely had built her Deck considering how frequently instances would arise where she could use each and every individual card. A Duelist who took every twist and turn dead seriously so that she was prepared for anything.

"Ishizu, hold on!" Cicely cried at length, some time and some damage later.

"Yes?" the older of the women responded softly and patiently.

"Nearly all of your Monsters must be in the Card Graveyard. But you seem a little blithe about that."

"Very astute," Ishizu said. "I'm not afraid to commend you on that observation, for I'm afraid you're a little late, my dear friend."

"W—what do you mean, Ishizu?" Cicely stammered.

"Well, say hello to _my_ signature play," Ishizu said. "I play my Trap Card, Exchange of the Spirit. This card forces both Duelists to switch the contents of their Decks and Graveyards.

"WHAT!?!" Cicely wailed. Ishizu let a tiny laugh escape her.

"It seems that _my _signature move has cancelled out your own, dear Cicely."

"How did this happen?" Cicely said. "That gives you a huge advantage!"

"You're right," Ishizu concurred. "Now _I_ have most of _my_ monsters and you barely have any."

"That's right," Cicely said, "But you forget that my beloved Monster Reborn was in my Graveyard."

"Yes, but once you use up all the cards in your newly infinitesimal Deck, you will lose our Duel."

"I won't lose," Cicely said, her countenance aglow with an aura of conceit. "And that's a promise, Ishizu. I _never _break a promise to a friend."

Ishizu inwardly smirked to herself regarding Cicely's arrogance as a Duelist. Actually Cicely was possessed by a general arrogance at life. They were polar opposites, and Ishizu had a major advantage.

"I have my ways and means of regaining cards from my Graveyard, Ishizu," Cicely said. "I play Monster Reborn, and revive my Dark Magician. Next I play Recycle and resurrect my Monster Reborn, and bring forth my _second_ Dark Magician. I also am going to play the Magician of Faith in Defense Mode."

Here I earned myself a great cheer from Téa.

"I'm also going to play two cards face-down."

"Interesting," Ishizu said. "You are hoping to Sacrifice, are you not?"

"Patience is a virtue, Ishizu," Cicely said. "I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and see." And she said it with such mystique that Ishizu was now rendered feeling more clueless than before. Was there a chance Cicely _wasn't _about to Summon her third Magician?

"Not this turn, anyway," Cicely said, and Ishizu realized she must have been thinking out loud. She really had to cut down on that...what if she "thought" of how beautiful Seto was while faced with him? That would be humiliating, and it would make her seem desperate. She was sure there were hundreds if not thousands of girls out there who also wanted Kaiba, but none knew him as she did—none had won his affections the way she had.

"Since I haven't actually Summoned a Monster, I'll Summon this one. Be gone, my Magicians! I still had this in my hand, Ishizu. But the question is: are you ready for it?"

"I've never been more ready," Ishizu replied. Inwardly she was painfully thinking, _what could be so great she sacrifices two of her prize Monster—and at once?_

"I Summon you, my Sorcerer of Dark Magic!"

Téa gasped, being the only one who had ever seen this card played before. Atem and Yugi had played it many years ago, against the strange and beastly man who called himself Anubis.

It was like a huge, even darker Dark Magician. And where the Dark Magician looked to be a warrior for peace and good, Cicely's Sorcerer looked vindictive. His merciless eyes mocked Ishizu. So much for strategy!

"I am impressed, Cicely," she said at length.

"Sorcerer of Dark Magic, attack her Life Points directly!"

"Activate Trap Card—"

"As long as my Sorcerer is face-up on the field your Trap Cards won't work," Cicely said. "Continue, my dear minion!"

"Man," Téa said to Daphne as Ishizu guarded her face from the blow, "Cicely's new Deck is _rough_."

"I know," Daphne replied. "Ishizu's about to get crushed!"

"But they're both very good Duelists," Téa said, "so I guess we'll have to wait and see how this'll go down in the end. I really think either of them has a shot."

"They both really messed around with each other, but they both got up and brushed it off and then brought in something bigger and badder," Daphne added.

"Wanna take bets?" Téa said sardonically. Daphne laughed.

"It's a tough call."

"First I play this," Ishizu said, when her turn started. "Swords of Revealing Light is a Magic Card that bars you from attacking with any Monster for three whole turns."

"That's a little bit of a cheap-shot, don't you think?" Cicely called back, as figures of solid luminosity in the form of swords surrounded her and her side of the Field.

"You've never Dueled without one in your Deck, Cicely!" Téa called. Cicely could hear the two young ladies on the sidelines burst into a fit of laughter.

"Call it what you will," Ishizu said, "But it gives me time to change the direction of the Duel. Next I play this: Change of Heart."

"Oh, no! Not my Sorcerer!" Cicely exclaimed in panic.

"No, Cicely. You are quite correct. _Not_ your Sorcerer."

"I don't understand!" Cicely cried out. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Well, my plan is to eliminate your means of Sacrifice, and also to take down a few of your Life Points. You see, I shall not, in this turn, call forth your mighty Sorcerer—I desire the service of your Magician of Faith."

"What?" Cicely cried. "That's my weakest Monster...in my entire Deck!"

"I know," Ishizu said. "And I intend to play her against your strongest Monster."

"Are you sucker-punching me?"

"Magician of Faith, attack the Sorcerer of Dark Magic!"

"Now I barely have more than two-thousand Life Points, not enough Monsters to Sacrifice, and too few cards in my Deck to have hope of winning this."

"You must _always_ have hope," Ishizu said clearly.

Cicely remembered something Yugi's grandfather had once said. "The Cards were once real monsters, Cicely...you must always trust in the Heart of the Cards. Your Monsters are your friends."

"You're right, Ishizu, thanks," Cicely said.

"Anytime," said her smiling challenger. "I just play one card face-down and end my turn."

Cicely had a bad feeling about this face-down card. There was one way to find out.

"I Sacrifice my Sorcerer to Summon this!"

"W—what?" Ishizu stammered. "You have something stronger?"

"Of course," Cicely said. "I have girl power! _Dark Magician_ Girl power, that is!"

Ishizu did not understand. Was Cicely's Deck just a Deck made of Dark Magician royalty?

And what was worse, Cicely had stamped out the Magic Card Ishizu had prepared for the Sorcerer. What else was in that Deck? Dark Sage? Magician of Black Chaos? But she did not see those cards, for when Cicely attacked her Life Points again, she took them _all_.

The holograms faded, and the smoke cleared, and Cicely found that her friend had collapsed to her knees.

"Ishizu!" she cried. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes," Ishizu responded. "I'm just a little winded. You attacked me directly so many times it knocked the wind out of me. But I'll be alright."

"I don't like to see you on your knees."

Ishizu had lied. The real reason she was on her knees was to hide her tears...what if she had lost her touch, and what if she could not reach Seto?

"We'll practice again tomorrow night, Ishizu," Cicely said. She helped her up. "It was a good Duel, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yes, it was a very good Duel," Ishizu said.

"I learned a lot about strategy," Cicely said. "So thanks."

Ishizu grinned. "You taught me some things, too. Thank you, Cicely."

"I can't wait to _watch_ you Duel," Cicely said.

"Likewise," Ishizu replied.

"I bet you'll beat Kaiba," Cicely said.

"What makes you say that?"

"I have."


	4. Time to Duel!

**Four – Time to Duel!**

Ishizu and Cicely were ready to go before the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. They ate a hasty breakfast and then walked off toward Kaiba Corp. Along the way they ran into other Duelists who Cicely knew. There were the Roba brothers, Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood, Rebecca Hawkins... and then some who both knew. There was Mai Valentine. The three of them walked together, until they met up with Yugi and his best friend Joey Wheeler. Kaiba Corp was not very crowded until the sun was partly visible, so the ten or so Duelists were guaranteed Locator Cards. Yugi's old acquaintances entered as well—Bandit Keith, Arkana, and others.

Once all the friends were given Locator Cards, they walked outside excitedly. And as soon as they did so, all the twenty-foot TV screens in Domino City lit up with the visage of none other than Seto Kaiba. Cicely could feel Ishizu melting beside her.

"Those of you who've done this before, congratulations; you know the drill," he said in his typically expressionless voice. "For those of you who don't, however...bla bla bla bla..."

"Ishizu!" someone yelled. "You got in! You got in!"

"Marik? Odion! My brothers!"

"We realized you would probably be entering the tournament and decided we'd come and cheer you on," Marik said.

"Oh, thank you," Ishizu said, beaming at her two brothers. "My brothers, this is my new friend, Cicely—huh? Cicely?"

"Hey, look at that Duel!" Marik cried, pointing somewhat behind Ishizu.

"Cicely!"

"She's our roommate," Ishizu said.

"That's your roommate, sister?" Marik said.

"Well, yes," Ishizu replied.

"Cicely Moretti, the only Duelist beside Yugi and, of course, the Pharaoh Atem, who ever beat Seto Kaiba?"

"You know her?"

"Of course," Marik replied. "She came to Kaiba Corp and utterly crushed Kaiba. Then she went to Duelist Kingdom when Pegasus heard of her and she beat him...from a deal they had beforehand he had to present her with two rare and powerful cards if she won—"

"Her Dark Magicians!" Ishizu exclaimed. "Of course! Now there are five in the world. Three live in her Deck."

"She's relatively young, too, isn't she?"

"I think she's seventeen," Ishizu said. "So is her best friend Daphne."

"How many girls live in that apartment?" Odion asked.

"Just four with me," Ishizu answered. Odion shrugged. He had never seen his sister's life become such fun for her.

"Cicely is one of the top Duelists in the world," Marik said. "But wait till you show her, sis!"

"She beat me last night," Ishizu said. "But she is very nice. She helped me read the menu at the diner, when I didn't know what any of the Western food was."

"She comes from New York, right?" Odion said at large.

"Yes," Ishizu answered him.

"It sounds like you've met your polar opposite, sis," Marik observed.

"It does, doesn't it?" Ishizu agreed, smiling. "Oh, Odion, Marik, thank you so much for supporting me in my decision to move back here. I just know there's a reason I'm here...it feels like all of my dreams will come true."

She hadn't ever told either of her brothers about her feelings for Seto Kaiba, or of his evident feelings for her.

"Let's cheer on your friend!" Marik said. "Kick butt, Cicely Moretti!"

Cicely turned around, surprised. "My brothers," Ishizu said, blushing. Cicely laughed a contented laugh and gave a little wave. "Hi," was all she said before continuing to her Duel.

She was Dueling against a boy about sixteen who held a Locator Card and a very rare Spellcaster Monster, the Magician of Black Chaos. Ishizu could only assume that Cicely wanted this card very badly. Ishizu was offered a Duel too and they split up that way.

_Ring, ring_. Marik picked up Ishizu's phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, is Ishizu around?"

"You must be Cicely."

"Yes?"

"Ishizu's in a Duel."

"Whereabouts?"

"Let me find you a landmark...um, right by the—uh—Burger World, I suppose."

"Be right there. How's she doing?"

"She's really stringing this poor guy along."

Cicely laughed. "That's what she did to me."

"All my life," Marik said. "All my life."

At the end of the day, the group of friends—Cicely, Marik, Ishizu, Odion, Téa, Yugi, Joey, Daphne, Mai, and Joey's sister Serenity all went out for sushi. Cicely and Daphne sat with the Ishtars, and found Ishizu's brothers to be very nice: they could tell that they loved their sister enormously. Ishizu sat between Odion and Cicely, Marik and Daphne sitting on the ends respectively beside those two. Téa, Yugi, and the others squeezed in too.

"Have you won any new cards, Ishizu?" Odion asked at length.

"Oh, yes," Ishizu replied. "I won this Dark Eradicator Warlock card...Cicely, it only works for people who hold a Dark Magician. It was the rarest card of some Duelist trying to save his Metal-Armored Bug—he didn't even have this one in his Deck—he bought a bunch of Booster Packs before the Tournament even began! Therefore, I am giving you this card. Take it, you deserve it; it is a gift of gratitude from me."

"Gratitude?" Cicely repeated, reading the card's effect.

"Yes, thanks. You have been nothing but welcoming and helpful to this stranger and foreigner during a degrading time in my life, and I appreciate your friendship more than you may ever know."

"Ishizu, I _love_ being your friend!" Cicely exclaimed. "Thank you so much...this was so sweet of you." She hugged Ishizu gleefully. Ishizu put an arm around the girl in response. All she had ever wanted was to have a best friend, and now she did in Cicely. "Ishizu, I owe you _big_."

"What did you win, Cicely?" Téa asked.

"I won three new Locator Cards...I Dueled Rex and Weevil but they cried and I never needed their cards anyway. But I won these two Magic Cards: Seal of the Ancients and Scapegoat."

"Sounds like you have a head-start," Joey said, through a mouthful of pickled ginger. "Yug and I only have two each."

Ishizu sampled her eel, as though lost in thought.

"This is fun," Cicely said. "I really love it that we all have so much time to spend together now."

"I miss Atem," Téa said.

"We all do," Yugi agreed.

"You would have loved him, Cicely," Téa said.

"And so I do, from your stories."

Cicely could not believe how kind Ishizu was. And it seemed like she had worked hard to track down this card for her. Cicely was now indebted to Ishizu, but Ishizu merely felt she had repaid a small part of an even greater debt.

That night Cicely organized her formidable Deck on the desk in her room. Ishizu sat on her bed wearing a linen spaghetti-strap nightdress which came down slightly below her knees. She was watching Cicely do this, and trying to stay awake so that she could advise her friend, but it was too hard, and soon she fell asleep. By the time Cicely had finished and turned around to notice this, Ishizu was in too deep a slumber to wake and Cicely must move her friend's sleeping body into a position that would not cause pain when she awoke in the morning. Then she put her cards away and crashed.

When Cicely opened her eyes in the morning she found Ishizu gone but she heard noises. So she followed the sounds to the kitchen where she found Ishizu making breakfast for the four of them. "Can I help?" Cicely asked.

"Oh, no, I've got it. Téa and Daphne are in the living room watching the news for the tournament."

"Oh, right!" Cicely sang. "There's a tournament...not school—or work! How lovely!"

Ishizu smiled because her young friend was happy. She was still looking for a job and Cicely had found her one at her college, but as Ishizu had never attended college, let alone grade school, they didn't want her. Cicely offered to start a strike, but Ishizu, laughing, had told her to keep studying.

"You can join them if you like," Ishizu said.

"But you're alone."

"Forgive me, but I was under the impression that you were here with me."

"I stay."

Cicely sat down on a stool with her elbows on the counter. "So what's new?"

Ishizu smiled. "I can't remember much...hey, did I fall asleep on you last night?"

"Kind of," Cicely said. "But it doesn't matter. I fell asleep about five minutes later."

"That's good," said Ishizu.

"Ishizu, will you come and meet my World History teacher from high school today?"

"Sure," Ishizu said. "Who is this person?"

"I just realized something a second ago," Cicely said. "She looks like you, she talks like you, she dresses like you, you remind me of her... Ishizu, I think she might be your mom."

Ishizu didn't know how to drive but Cicely tore through the streets of Domino until they reached the high school.

"What's her name?" Ishizu asked.

"Well, we all called her Ms. Ishtar," Cicely said. "But her first name is Nephthys."

"Nephthys," Ishizu repeated. "It means 'lady of the house.'"

Cicely came to the front desk where they met a secretary.

"Hello, Cicely!" the woman said. "Did you miss us?"

"Hi, Mrs. Ford," Cicely said. "Is Ms. Ishtar around?"

"I'm afraid she's in a meeting," Mrs. Ford said, eying Ishizu, who was rapidly losing gracefulness in her anxiousness to meet her mother again. "How—er—urgent—is this?"

"It's really urgent," Cicely said.

Ms. Ishtar's room was just upstairs, Cicely told Ishizu. They ran upstairs to her door. Cicely knocked. "Come in," said a voice, and Ishizu knew it from so very long ago...like coming home.

"Ms. Ishtar," Cicely said. "Can I please speak to you in private?"  
"Sure," Ms. Ishtar said, and followed her out into the hallway.

"I want you to meet my friend," Cicely said.

"Hello, how do you do?" Ms. Ishtar said.

"Her name is Ishizu Ishtar."

"What?" Ms. Ishtar said, standing back from her daughter with teary eyes. "Ishizu—daughter, is it really you?"

"It is, Mother," Ishizu said. Cicely watched from afar as the two Egyptian women embraced, both crying. "I thought you were dead."

"I know," Ms. Ishtar said. "I thought it the best way to disappear...you see, your father expelled me from the Pharaoh's tomb, saying that he was tired of me loving Odion and you as much as Marik. He had people take me away, and I came here to Domino shortly after. Oh, Ishizu." She caressed the side of her daughter's cheek. "You are so beautiful."

Ishizu spoke, her voice cracking. "I took Marik into the villages, Mother, when we were children. And he began to develop an angry hatred that took over him. He banished people to the Shadow Realm, starting with Father. Then he and Odion ran away. I was left in the Tomb quite alone."

"Oh, Ishizu," Ms. Ishtar said.

"I had to make a life for myself, but I was only twelve. I became a lonely orphan, wandering the markets in search of food and sleeping in the labyrinth alone at night. I taught myself as much as I could and applied at many universities, which wouldn't accept me. I worked in museums and created my own collection of artifacts, and became Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities. And then I realized that the Pharaoh had already returned—though not in the way we expected. A small boy living in Domino City, who had defeated both Pegasus and Kaiba at Duel Monsters, wore the Millennium Puzzle. He had pieced it together. So my exhibit moved to Domino and I quit my job as Secretary General to become a museum curator to help get me to Yugi and the Pharaoh, who resided within his mind. Marik's evil side still wanted to kill the Pharaoh, and Odion was still his puppet. I also invited Seto Kaiba to my exhibit, and asked him to start a tournament. There, Yugi and the Pharaoh would help me to defeat Marik's evils. I fell in love with Kaiba and he with me, though neither of us acted upon it. We all entered the tournament, and the Pharaoh won in a final face-off against Kaiba, counterpart to the ancient Sorcerer Seto."

"You're for real?" Ms. Ishtar said. Ishizu nodded.

"They look _exactly_ the same, and Kaiba has three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in his Deck."

"After the tournament, Marik and Odion repented and were pardoned, and the three of us got an apartment in Egypt. After a few years, however, Yugi and his friends came to Egypt and we set the Pharaoh's spirit free. All seven Millennium Items are locked away forever and the Pharaoh is at peace."

"Oh, Ishizu, you did it!" she exclaimed.

"I had an ancient counterpart as well," Ishizu said.

"You're serious?"

"She was a Priestess for the Pharaoh and wielder of the Millennium Necklace, five-thousand years ago. Yugi and the Pharaoh are indeed counterparts."

"I knew you could do it, Ishizu, and I knew it would be you. Only you could help the Pharaoh and the Ishtar family as you did. I am very proud of you. And your heart—it is still sweet and kind and good. Oh, my daughter, I never dreamed such a day would come!"

"And it's all thanks to Cicely," Ishizu said. "Cicely is my best friend."

"Cicely, Ishizu, I can't believe this," Ms. Ishtar said, bringing them both into her arms.

"Mother, you have no idea how much I've missed you!" Ishizu said. Cicely didn't know Ishizu had it in her to break down.

"Ishizu, I must commend you, because you are nothing like your father, and yet you would have had every right to be. I want to know something...did he hurt you?"

"Mostly Odion," Ishizu said. "Next to never Marik, and sometimes me...but you were always with me. I could always hear you singing. And I knew that one day I would get out of there—one day I would see you again...I just never knew it would be during my earthly life."

"You were brave, Ishizu, you were brave," Ms. Ishtar said.

"I may have to go soon," Ishizu said.

"Daughter, let me cancel this meeting."

The three of them walked outside.

"I am living in Cicely's bedroom like a parasite right now—"

"You're not a parasite!" Cicely cried out. "You're my friend!"

"And we entered the Battle City Tournament. So there is a chance we'll have to take a trip. I entered to get closer to Kaiba, honestly. And if you win, you win five million dollars. I'm in a little bit of a hard time for money right now, which is why I live with my friends and have no job. After Battle City, no one in Egypt wanted me, so I came here a few weeks ago."

"Téa would never have let you become homeless," Cicely said. "And if I knew you existed then it would have been the same story, alright? We're friends, and we care about each other."

"Cicely, now I see why bumping you into my honors class was such a good idea, and putting up with your corny projects, and your sappy cards, and apple-related teacher gifts. You're a wonderful girl, Cicely. Ishizu and I are fortunate to have known you."

"Can you take off like two weeks from work, Ms. Ishtar?" Cicely asked. "You should come with Ishizu and I if we win."

"That's a great idea!" Ishizu declared. "Please, Mother? Will you come and see us in the Finals if we make it?"

"Of course, Ishizu. It would be my honor."

"Would you like to see Odion and Marik now?"

"I would _love_ to see my sons."

Just then Cicely's phone rang. "That's probably Marik now, actually. He wanted to tell me something." She answered the phone. "Marik?" She paused for the reply. "Okay, here, talk to your mom—"

"Marik?"

"Ishizu?"

"No, Marik, it's your mother."

"Ishizu, that isn't funny—"

"Ishizu would never joke about such things."

"Marik, please believe us!" Ishizu said. "I'm begging you!"

Cicely pressed a button on the phone and had Ms. Ishtar hold it out so everyone could hear.

"Marik, Ishizu and I are your friends...we would never lie to you about something as huge and as painful as this. Please believe us!"

"Mother?" his voice said tentatively.

"Marik, my son! It has been twenty years, and you probably don't remember me. Will you and Odion meet us at Domino Diner?"

"Sure, Mother. Do you want to speak with Odion?"

"Is he around?"

"Odion, you'll never believe—I'm speaking to Mother!"

"What, brother?"

"It's Mother! She's alive, and she's with Ishizu! They're here in Domino City!"

"I would like to believe that, Marik, but I watched her die and so did Ishizu."

"So why won't you? I didn't either, but then I heard her voice, and I knew it was her. Cicely brought Ishizu to her today."

"Mother?"

"Odion? Is your voice really that deep?" Ms. Ishtar said.

"Mother! It's really you, isn't it?"

"Yes. I have been in Domino City since I faked my death. I teach World History at the High School, and Cicely was my best student. She apparently realized that Ishizu and I are so much alike, and that we share a last name."

"We'll be at the diner in five minutes."

"Ms. Ishtar, do you drive?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'll just walk back home. You guys should just be alone together. I don't want to intrude."

"No, come on, Cicely!" Ishizu said.

"You guys, really, don't worry—it should be about family."

"You _are_ family," Ishizu said, taking her hand and pulling her toward her old orange Golf. "You might not be an Ishtar and you might not be a Tomb Keeper, but you're family."

"I—I'm honored, guys—really," Cicely said. Ishizu gave her friend a hug.

"Now drive us to that diner."


	5. Family Fundamentals

**Five – Family Fundamentals**

"This is great," Marik said to his older brother as they waited for their long-lost mother's arrival.

"The day I thought she died was the worst day of my life, and I've missed her so much—she was the first person who ever loved me—and now she's coming back into my life!"

"Is that Cicely's car in the distance?" Odion asked.

"Well, she is obsessed with the color orange," Marik said. "It must be. And look! In the front seat—that woman looks like Ishizu plus twenty years!"

Odion and Marik got up and started waving. Their mother waved back. Then the two Egyptian women got out of the car and hugged the brothers. Cicely watched from a safe distance, until the two youngest Ishtars pulled her into the circle.

"Marik, you were always so blond!" Nephthys cried out. "And Odion, you are so huge!"

Ishizu and Cicely stood back and watched this. It took Cicely a moment to notice the silent tears pouring from Ishizu's big blue eyes.

"Come here, Ishizu," she said and sat down on the bench and hugged her friend. "What is it?"

"There is so much, Cicely," Ishizu said. "You brought my family back together, and you're helping me make it bigger with Kaiba. And you thought you weren't a part of our family!"

"I just thought I'd help out a friend, Ishizu," Cicely said. "That's all. It was that innocent."

"Well, it's changed my life, Odion's life, Marik's life, my mother's life, and hopefully it'll change Seto's. I owe _you_ big."

"No, no, you don't," Cicely said. "I don't want you to try to pay me back. Seeing my friends happy is all that matters to me. Oh, I _do_ love happy endings."

"Hey, you two girls have Duel Disks!" a voice yelled out of nowhere. Ishizu and Cicely exchanged glances.

"You want this one?" Cicely asked.

"Just see what he says," Ishizu said. "He doesn't exactly sound—"

"Like the brightest bulb in the box?"

"Exactly," Ishizu said. "Ooh, look—he's an American, evidently."

"So am I," Cicely said.

"That's right. But this Keith person seems different than you for the worse."

"Hey!" Bandit Keith said slowly to Ishizu. "Doo yoo speaky Eenglish?"

"Would you like a Duel?" Ishizu asked, showing not only her acumen and fearlessness but her fluency. He was taken aback, but recovered in a few short seconds' time.

"Yes, I would. I'll take you girls down one at a time. How many Locator Cards do you have?"

"More than you, I'll bet," Cicely asked. She cast her gaze over to the other Ishtars, who were watching to make sure Ishizu was not hurt. "It's okay," she mouthed. "He's just stupid. Watch he doesn't try to pull something, or cheat or something."

"Okay, thank you, Cicely."

"Go get 'em, Ishizu!" Marik shouted.

Ishizu stood—she was taller than Keith.

"Americans first, then," she said. He took the point that she was not offended but that he would not get away with his behavior. Ishizu thought Americans were just as diverse as any other people, and, unlike Keith, her insights would not smite them all. That was her strength: she was smarter.

The other Ishtars joined Cicely, and she smiled as she filled them in. "But Marik, Odion, you know how Ishizu Duels. This guy is not only overconfident but he's not a deep thinker. He will never see what she's got coming at him."

"Remember that I once mind-controlled Keith," Marik said. "I know his weaknesses. And so does Odion."

"What does Ishizu have coming at him, then?" Ms. Ishtar asked.

"It's an extremely rare card called _Exchange of the Spirit_," Marik whispered in his mother's ear. "It switches the contents of both players' Decks with their Graveyard. It's Ishizu's signature move, especially when she's dealing with a haughty idiot who doesn't know her."

"This I have to see," Ms. Ishtar said.

"Yeah, this should be good," Cicely said.

The Duel was odd, because Ishizu won more easily than Cicely had ever seen anyone win, Keith was slurring his words and stumbling when he walked, and Ishizu seemed uncannily exhausted. Her mother offered a word of support.

"Ishizu, you were incredible!" Ms. Ishtar exclaimed. "I never dreamed my children would be so multi-talented. I was just so thrilled at your courage and strength."

"Well, Ishizu's and Odion's, at least," Marik said.

"No, I'm proud of you all," Ms. Ishtar said. "I know you made mistakes. Ishizu told me all about it. But learning to accept the forgiveness of others and to forgive yourself are two very important morals which many people never discover. It takes great fortitude to accept these as gifts the way you have, Marik. You are my son, and I understand you better than anyone you have ever met before."

"Thank you, Mother," he said, kissing her.

"That Duel must have drained much of my energy," Ishizu said, "And we left while I was still making breakfast. I hope Téa and Daphne handled it."

"Who are they?"

"They are our roommates. Téa was an old friend of Yugi's, the Pharaoh's vessel; and Daphne is Cicely's closest friend from New York."

"That's great!" Ms. Ishtar said as they walked in the door.

"Ishizu, I've never seen a Duel quite like that. Right when you had only a hundred Life Points left you played _Exchange of the Spirit_ and nailed him!"

"It was very hard," Ishizu said. Cicely and the Ishtars sat down. Ishizu rather fell into the booth. "Can we have some orange juice rather quickly?" Cicely asked, nodding toward Ishizu.

The waiter saw Ishizu, who was seemingly having trouble staying conscious. He nodded and about five seconds later brought some orange juice with a straw. Ms. Ishtar held the straw up to Ishizu's lips.

"Ishizu, it's Mommy," she said gently. "Please drink for Mommy?"

"O—okay."

Blindly Ishizu allowed herself to be fed some of the juice. Her body shook with an alarming though subdued tremor as she did this.

She was slightly restored, however. Her eyes stayed open, at least. "I'm sorry, everyone," she said feebly.

"You alright?" Cicely asked. She sat on the right-hand end of the booth and sandwiched Ishizu between herself and Ms. Ishtar, who was stroking her daughter's hair. Cicely's arm was around her friend's shoulders, and Ishizu clung to this source of strength to help her sit up.

"Marik, that first time your dark side took over," Ishizu said, in a monotone barely above a whisper, "I felt like this. I can only assume there is a new magic present, and that the Rare Hunters are looking for rare cards. The tournament must have attracted them."

"Ishizu!" Ms. Ishtar cried.

"Mother, I'm sorry this had to happen on the day of our reunion," she said. "But I feel too weak to go on with myself today."

Ishizu passed out and her head fell on her mother's shoulder.

"Cicely, is your apartment nearby?" Ms. Ishtar asked. "I live twenty minutes from here."

"Yes," Cicely said. "Let's go."

"Do we need the hospital?" Marik asked.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea," Ms. Ishtar said. "I won't present my child to doctors and scientists as a freak specimen. She's in enough danger among her own family. Let's just get her in a bed."

"I hate to see her like this," Odion said. "She was always the wisest and the strongest of your children."

"I thought she was invincible," Marik added.

"She'll be okay, Ms. Ishtar?"

"I hope so," she replied.

Marik and his mother sat in the backseat with Ishizu's body between them, and Odion sat up front with Cicely. She knew something had gone dead wrong, and she was frightened. Odion tried to comfort her, but who would comfort him? Ah, well, he was used to living as selflessly as a common servant. Cicely, realizing this, tried to return the gesture of his kindness.

"Odion, we can get her better," she said. "We can be strong for her. That's probably all she needs."

"Thank you," he said.

"Thank you."

Cicely was glad to see that Daphne and Téa had straightened up the house in lieu of Ishizu's primary concern that they had unknowingly let it burn down. They were shocked to see Ishizu so weak, and to meet Ms. Ishtar, whom all had long believed to be dead. Ishizu was partially awake by this time but was still incoherent to the world outside her head. Cicely wanted to cry for Ms. Ishtar: would her daughter die five minutes after their reunion?

"I know how much this tournament means to Ishizu," Téa said. "I just feel so bad that now she won't be able to do what she was so excited for."

"I'll win enough cards for both of us," Cicely said heroically. "And if I can't I'll give her mine."

"I can pretend to be my daughter and Duel her way to the Finals," Ms. Ishtar said. Cicely looked at her in wonder.

"Have you ever Dueled before?"

"Well, I might be a little rusty but I'm a fair Duelist if I can say that," she replied.

"Ishizu has a veil that you wear over your face, and since you don't look _exactly _alike you might want to borrow it," Téa suggested. Ms. Ishtar agreed.

"Of course I'll be needing her clothes. It's too bad I'm not as thin as I used to be! Wait till my daughter looks like this... she'll absolutely hate her body in this crazy world where they stare you down if you aren't a perfect conformist." She said all this with such a fondness as only an amorous mother could ever have. "I know Ishizu is not a conformist, because I'm not, and she is so much like me."

Cicely thought that Ms. Ishtar was being very strong, so she gave her old schoolteacher a hug.

"I never knew, all those years, that I was in the presence of someone who had it in her to bring my family back to me," Ms. Ishtar said.

"You're so strong, Ms. Ishtar," Cicely said. "You never cried."

"I'll cry if my poor daughter is ripped from me again!" Ms. Ishtar declared. "But I won't cry to watch her suffer. I'll be her strength. You must always imagine that the pain of the other person is huger than your own, and that way you can be of service to the sorrowful."

"Ms. Ishtar, I'm sorry, but I'm really scared," Cicely said.

Ms. Ishtar smiled morosely, and acted as motherly toward Cicely as she had toward her daughter and her sons. But, then again, she had always been this kind, wonderful, and selfless. Cicely rested her head on Ms. Ishtar's shoulder and just cried.

"Don't cry, Cicely," a gentle voice said.

"Ishizu."

"It's alright, see? Come here."

"I'm sorry. I should be stronger for you."

"It's alright, my friend. I am touched to find how afraid you are to lose me or to watch me suffer. But all magic has its weaknesses. We can beat this thing—that is to say, _I_ can beat this thing, because I have all of you."

Ishizu stroked Cicely's hair and smiled weakly. She wiped all of her young friend's tears away. "Do you not trust yourself? You'll take care of me; I trust you. I'm not scared, Cicely. Honest."

"I'm sorry you feel like you have to console me," Cicely said.

"I know I don't _have_ to, but I love you like a dear little sister. I am thrilled beyond my wildest dreams that I know you. Please don't be sad, Cicely. You're breaking my heart."

"I'll be stronger, Ishizu," Cicely said.

"That's not what I want. I just don't want you to worry."


	6. An Insufferable Buttface

**Six – An Insufferable Buttface**

Over the next few weeks Ishizu was able to rejoin the tournament without cheating, and her friends watched her become stronger every day. But then one day she was rendered worse than ever. She was confined to a bed, and her mother stayed by her side all day and night.

"Ishizu?" Téa said quietly after a long day of watching Duels. It had been a week since Ishizu's relapse began, and Ishizu was not showing any signs of recovery. Even Ms. Ishtar began to openly worry.

Ishizu lay on the bed, her head and feet elevated. She smiled when her eyes found Cicely and Téa.

"I'm glad you're here," she said, and the girls could tell that she had missed them painfully and longed to be Dueling with them and sharing in the majestic adventures they should have had together but wouldn't.

"Have you eaten today?" Téa asked.

"Yes," Ishizu said, though this was a downright lie and everyone knew it—however Nephthys said nothing.

"I'm glad to see you," Cicely said. Ishizu knew that her friends had probably rushed up here the moment they arrived and that Cicely had probably just not had the chance to take it off in her anxiousness to see Ishizu, but that didn't mean it didn't strike a nerve to see that Duel Disk on Cicely's arm and remember that she, Ishizu, could not even witness the Duels of her friends, let alone fight one.

"What have you been up to?" Téa asked, trying to keep things upbeat as best she could. Everyone was getting good at this and Ishizu was starting to miss normal human emotion.

"Well," said Ishizu, "I've read the entire Bible and it makes a lot more sense than much of our Egyptian mythology."

Téa smiled upon the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and beliefs between Ishizu and Cicely because she knew they'd both learned a lot about the world and about themselves.

"And my mother and I read through your Egyptology manuscript, Cicely. We were both extremely impressed—it was wonderful, and you'll be a great journalist someday."

But then her eyes glazed over and she stared rather blankly ahead.

"Ishizu?"

"Honey?"

Nothing. Cicely and Nephthys watched as Téa approached Ishizu. And from there, everything happened very quickly.

Ishizu's mindless body drew Cicely's deer-gutting knife from under the sheets and slashed Téa's shoulder. Téa screamed and fell. Then she stood and came for Cicely. Instinctively, Cicely backed away, but then she became bolder and seized Ishizu's shoulders, trying to throw her friend's afflicted body down or at least to shake some sense back into her. But it seemed that Ishizu's mind and memory were gone, and the formerly-pitiable Ishizu was now stronger than Cicely hundredfold. Having abandoned the blade, Ishizu's fingers coiled around the throat of the thunderstruck Cicely; they constricted inhumanly, feeling to Cicely more like demonic snakes than like the fingers of any human being, let alone those of one of her closest and most fragile friends.

Soon Cicely was seeing stars...she was dying, she couldn't breathe...infinite blackness began to materialize before her confused and tortured eyes—and there was only one resort; one natural impulse over which she had zero control...

Unconsciously, as if in an unremembered dream, she drew back a tightly-clenched fist and heard a scream—her own body hit the floor with monumental force, and, across from her in a crumpled heap sat Ishizu. Ishizu seemed perfectly cognizant of herself now; sitting up straight and feeling her broken nose, her face covered in blood and her nostrils positively running with more blood—

"Ishizu!" her mother exclaimed, and she fell upon her knees to tend to her dazed and disfigured daughter, now explicitly in mortal fear of losing her. Ishizu's hand groped blindly for Cicely's. But Cicely drew back and stood in a shaken frenzy.

"No, no, no—I can't touch you!" she stuttered, mumbling to herself like a mental patient of many decades, "I hurt—Ishizu—I hurt—you—"

"What have I done?" she cried at length, unreachable to the world around her.

And with those words she turned and ran away.

Ishizu fell limply into her mother's warmly inviting body and just sobbed while Téa crawled out from the other side of the bed, the blinding wound in her shoulder bleeding profusely through the gash in her shirts.

"It's okay, Ishizu..."

Daphne had not been home during this and was surprised to find her friends in such grief and no Cicely. Ms. Ishtar and Téa explained the afternoon's events to Daphne and Daphne set out to find Cicely, knowing that in order to find the girl she would first have to start thinking like her.

"Wait," Ishizu said. Everyone was silent and in a mental lock for this bolt from the blue, as no one had expected her to speak up. "Please, Daphne—if you find Cicely please thank her for bringing me back. Tell her that there is a dark magic at work here in Domino City and I can't surmount it alone."

Daphne looked at her broken friend and nodded.

"Be careful," Ms. Ishtar called after her.

Cicely wasn't quite as hard to find as Daphne had initially feared. She stood on the stone bridge which covered the stream, looking about seven or eight feet down at the shallow water below. She was out of breath and it seemed she'd run till she couldn't run anymore—and this was a long distance considering Cicely was no athlete!

"Hey," she said. Cicely gave no response, so Daphne gave her a hug. But Cicely pushed her away.

"What are you doing?" Daphne asked, and Cicely could hear a note of sympathy in her voice.

"I'm trying to figure out what's the best thing to do with myself now," Cicely said. "You know what happened, don't you?"

"Yes, I do—and Ishizu wanted to thank you for getting her to come to and beat the brainwashing and to beg you to please come home and help her to vanquish it for good. She wanted me to tell you she can't go through with this unless _all_ her friends are by her side. And you can't just walk out on a friend as good as she is."

"You can't be for real, Daphne," Cicely said, now allowing Daphne to hug her.

"Please come back? Everybody needs you there."

"Alright."

"Ishizu, I'm so sorry," Cicely said. She and her friend hugged for a long time.

"Thank you for coming back to us," Ishizu said. All of the girls and Ms. Ishtar were in their pajamas and it felt like they were just a bunch of sisters. Cicely was curled up beside Ishizu who stroked her friend's hair as the others talked and joked and got to know each other a little better, and Ishizu knew that the darknesses which had surrounded her own self for all her life had not been bested yet—and what could anyone do but show a little bit of love to his brother in a time such as this?

Ishizu had a sort of funny splint on her face that was supposed to help guide the cartilage back to its natural position and much to Cicely's avail she had mercifully spun the doctors a tale of having negligently walked into a door.

There came a knock at the door downstairs. "I'll get it," Téa and Cicely announced in inadvertent unison. A few moments later their feet trudged back up the stairs, and who should enter with them but Seto Kaiba.

_Now he has to see me like this?_ Ishizu thought. But then she remembered her oldest bit of wisdom: gracefulness and a convincing false bravado can mask all humiliation—sometimes even including inward humiliation. She knew it was probably unwise to lie to herself, but it was the only way it would be humanly possible for her to look this smug and swaggering man of her dreams in the face with her dignity intact—she decided that this was a risk she must take.

"What brings you here, Seto Kaiba?" she asked him coolly, her hand still on Cicely's head. He spat out his reply like blackly bitter chewing tobacco.

"Why are you wearing that thing on your face? You deserve to have been injured for wearing something like that!"

"You have no inkling what my daughter has just endured!" Nephthys shouted, enraged and shaking wildly from head to foot. "You have no inkling what she's endured for all her young life! _And_ you have no idea what we're all enduring! Leave."

Kaiba turned to obey without another word but Ishizu stopped time with her own. "Why have you come, Kaiba? Are you here to jeer and taunt my friends and I? Are you here to nurture the hateful suffering that has come upon us? Or are you here to kick me out of the tournament which I myself gave flight to?"

"None of the above, actually," he said. "I came to see if you were alright."

The girls and women were silent. What was Kaiba saying? Or was this just another one of his shocking comebacks, designed to stun the senses?

"You sure do have a funny way of going about that, Kaiba," Cicely remarked. Ishizu was glad her friends were sharp, too.

"I didn't come to hear your commentary, Moretti!" he snapped. "Ishizu! Are you or are you not alright? I am among the wealthiest men alive and I can help you."

"I'll be fine, Kaiba," she said composedly, inwardly yearning for help and for him.

"Moretti," he said, "I need a word with you."

Cicely nodded and followed Kaiba out of earshot of the others.

"So...you like her?" Cicely said, before Kaiba could make the first utterance—now the ball was entirely in Cicely's court and therefore, in a slightly vicarious way, Ishizu's. And Seto Kaiba was not used to being a subordinate, and he was not used to being in second place. He was, however, accustomed to total control. But protective Cicely would not allow him to have total control in what _should_ be a mutual relationship with Ishizu. First he would have to understand that he was equal if not subordinate to Ishizu—a delicate girl such as this one must be handled with love and care, and to see Ishizu treated more like a princess and less like a common filthy thug would not be out of the question either.

"Yes," he grudgingly shot back at last, in a muted hiss that clearly gave away not only his desperation, but his discomfiture. Inwardly laughing heartily as she imagined high-fiving Ishizu and company, Cicely wished for a camcorder of sorts. _Boys are really dumb_, she thought in her young mind.

"So get her alone and ask her out," she said. "But stop picking on her every imperfection. She puts perfectionism on a whole new level just like you do, and if you care about her, then just do us all a favor and don't totally psyche her out, okay?"

"_Okay_," he said. His eyes got the look that clearly said, _this is the way I navigate the world. Without my cold comfort blanket I've got nothing._

"Be yourself," Cicely said. "Or wait—don't be yourself. Be open with her, and _be nice_. If you're gonna be an idiot then you can forget about the whole thing. She doesn't need you if you can't behave yourself and just mind your manners around a lady _a little bit_."

"Okay, okay, already!" he said.

"Just remember this," Cicely said. "She's as nice a girl as anyone else. So she's not looking for Mister Big-Macho-CEO. When you go in there, it's not a business contract. It's real, human interpersonal interaction and you've got to have the guts for that. Reverse the famous catch-phrase: _It's not business; it's personal_. Repeat after me: _it's not business; it's personal_."

"It's not personal—I mean—it's—it's—not—purple—what!"

"Stop being stupid and just go in there, and for Pete's sake don't give her a 'check yes or no' form to fill out."

_It's not business; it's personal. It's not business; it's personal_, Kaiba thought as he apprehensively approached Ishizu's door again. "Ishizu, I'm sorry I'm such an insufferable buttface," he said and Cicely heard her give a tiny laugh. "Will you go out with me?"

Cicely could hear the excitement in Ishizu's voice as she toyed with his mind. "Will I go out with insufferable buttface Seto Kaiba? Hmm...I don't know—yeah, I suppose I'd like that."

Kaiba sighed inside his head and mopped his brow. When he came to the end of the stairs Cicely was wearing an impish smirk on her face. "And?"

"It worked," he said grudgingly. "Thanks, Moretti."

"I only helped you because she wants you, too."

"What? You little—!"

_I can't believe I helped allow Ishizu to totally play me like that!_ he thought.

Ishizu laughed to herself recalling the sweat on Kaiba's brow. "He's terrified of me," she said. "And it has always been that way. But it's rather amusing, isn't it?"

Ms. Ishtar was amazed to see Ishizu get one-up on Seto Kaiba.

"How old is he?" she asked.

"He's me and Marik's age," Téa responded.

"Wow, you're four years older than him?" Nephthys calculated.

"I guess so," Ishizu said.

"What did he call himself?" Téa said.

"Insufferable buttface?" Cicely suggested.

"Thanks, Cicely," Téa said. "I'm writing that one down."


	7. Boarding the Blimp

**Author Notes from Carly's Treehouse in Neverland**

Hello, all. Not sure how many chapters will follow this one, but here is long-awaited chapter seven.

I'm not sure where this should go, _mes amis_!

**Seven – Boarding the Blimp**

Seto Kaiba woke up before the sun did these days. He woke up at three-thirty every morning. Mokuba was starting to believe all his elder brother cared about was the precision of the placement of every individual hair on his head and that he always remembered to use at least twenty gallons of expensive cologne—was there _nowhere_ in that colossal mansion to hide from the stench?

Tonight, the eight finalists would be rounded up, and when that time came, he saw neither Moretti nor Ishizu. Still, only six prepared to enter the tournament, it seemed. One did not show his identity. The next was a blonde girl named Kyara with her friends, Kat and Danny. One wore strange robes, and was that Bandit Keith from Duelist Kingdom. Lastly were Yugi and Wheeler, and, of course, Kaiba himself. Maybe they were still coming, because Kaiba knew Cicely would make the finals. Ishizu wasn't as devoted to Duel Monsters, but she should have been here to cheer Cicely on, unless something was wrong.

This time, to prevent cheating, Kaiba had placed microchips inside each of the Locator Cards. Now he was glad he had done so—this way he could track down Ishizu, Moretti, and the remaining two Duelists.

Mokuba's computer told him that the largest accumulation of Locator Cards was right where the girls' apartment was. Kaiba hijacked a limo himself. He broke into their apartment and entered without so much as a glance at the startled girls. He just needed Ishizu.

"Ishizu," he said, in a commanding tone of voice.

"Kaiba," she said. "What are you doing here? You have places to be."

"And so have you. Both of you," he said, catching Cicely's eye. "Ishizu, you have more Locator Cards than anyone else who doesn't quite have ten, and Cicely, you have all of yours. Why didn't you come?"

"Kaiba," Ishizu said slowly, "It isn't safe."

He looked at her in perplexity. "Why?" he asked her.

"I'm bound to hurt someone," she said. "I'm a time bomb, just waiting to explode. I'm sorry, Seto, you know I wish I could be there…"

"You can!"

"Kaiba, sometimes you just have to make sacrifices because you know it's the right thing."

"The right thing would be for us to be together, Ishizu!"

"Please, Seto," she said. "Trust me; it would be better if I sat this one out. Cicely, however, should go and Duel."

Cicely was ticking Kaiba off. Not only was she helping to keep Ishizu off the blimp and out of the tournament, but she also refused to attend.

Ishizu was stronger now, and she seemed mobile. "Can I have a word with you, Ishizu?" he said. His tone had softened. The object of his fantasies studied him. She nodded.

"Of course."

Ishizu's dress was just plain sexy, and there was no other word for it. It wasn't revealing, and that only went to show what a classy lady she was, and how much she didn't need to show a whole lot of skin just to be attractive. He liked that about her—that she covered herself up. Or maybe it was just part of the uncanny mystique that made Ishizu, well, Ishizu.

"Yes, Kaiba?"

Crap! He hadn't realized how long he'd been checking her out.

"Sorry," he said. "Ishizu, you have to come. Since I first saw you again in the diner that day, I thought maybe I had a chance to redeem myself in your eyes. I hoped you would enter the tournament, and get into the Finals, which you have. Please, Ishizu, don't crush my dream here."

"That was sweet," Ishizu said softly.

"No," Kaiba said, and a sheepish yet elated grin played around the corners of his lips, turning them upward. "Please?"

"I'll come, then," she said. "If I come Cicely will come, so not coming would be cruel, I suppose..."

"Yes! It would," Kaiba insisted.

"And you have wanted me there so badly for such a very long time, have you not?"

"I suppose, it'd be nice, so we'd have all eight Duelists," he said.

"Seto, you don't have to put up your defenses with me."

He was taken aback.

"Kiss me..."

He was _very_ taken aback.

"Seto, it's okay," she said.

He stroked her hair. She was so beautiful.

"I've learned something, Kaiba," she said. "Even though I never thought so before, I'm starting to think that you only live once. You might as well make the most of the one life you get.

"I can't get over how beautiful you are," he said. He put his large, strong hand on her cheek and felt the warm tears.

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, her blue eyes flowing. "You and I each used to be so proud. What happened to us?"

"Things change when you're in love, honey," he said. "I feel like I'm a new man. I look forward to you, Ishizu. You make me want to be better than I am. I love you."

As always, Kaiba got his way and the inhabitants of the apartment (and one of their long-lost mothers) boarded KaibaCraft that evening. Ishizu Ishtar was holding her lover's hand as she did so.


	8. What Comes After

**Notes from Carly's Never Treehouse:**

**Since you're all probably thinking, ****Mrs****. Ishtar can't possibly still be alive, and she might be an impostor, I'll just clear this up: **_**it's really her**_

**Eight – What Comes After?**

Ishizu only had one suitcase. It was placed at the foot of her bed, in her room. She immediately opened the suitcase and took out the things that needed to be hung in the closet, and a photograph of her mother holding her as an infant. It was the only photograph of them together, and now, thanks to good karma, she could look forward to many more. There was also a framed tabloid clipping of Seto and a few of her brothers, the Pharaoh, and of her friends—Yugi, Téa, and the others. She arranged the frames on her bedside table and was greeted by her mother.

"Alright if I bunk with you, sweetie?"

"Anything, Mother!" Ishizu cried with the eagerness of a dog. She was glad there were two beds in the room. Seto must have known to do this.

"I see you've begun decorating," Mrs. Ishtar said. "Oh, I'd forgotten that we had a picture together. It's lovely, no, Ishizu?"

"It is," Ishizu said. "I always kept it private so that it wouldn't be hurt."

"Did you?" her mother said. "You were always so sweet. Oh, Ishizu, I'm sorry."

"It confused me that you had died right in front of Rishid and I," she said. "I always wondered how I might've done something differently...Father always blamed poor Rishid, and I always blamed myself, not only for your death but for my family's pain."

Nephthys studied her daughter. "There was no other way."

"I know, Mother," Ishizu said. She sat down on the bed. But then a knock came to her door. It was Daphne and their friend Sona, who had flown all the way from New York to support Cicely. A smaller girl introduced as Amelia also entered. The first Duelists are about to be chosen!"

"Let's go," Nephthys said, and continued. "It never hurt anyone to be on time."

"Hey, Ishizu," Téa's voice said. Cicely, Daphne, Sona, and Amelia were in one clique with Marik and Rishid; Téa, Yugi, Joey, Duke, Tristan, and Serenity in another. Some Duelists stood alone, and that Kyara girl was flanked by Kat and Danny. She was wearing her Duel Disk already. Ishizu was unpleasantly alarmed to see how serious these people were, including Cicely, to win! They were almost psychotic.

The first Duel would be that Kyara girl against Joey!

It was a hard Duel, though Kyara won. Joey walked up to her with his arm outstretched, holding his rarest card—"My Red-Eyes Black Draggin."

Kyara surprised him, and everyone. "Can I just borrow it till the end of the tournament? And then it's all yours, Joey."

Joey looked thunderstruck.

"Kiss her, you imbecile!" Tristan roared.

"Please don't," Kyara said. "I just know how it feels losing something that's important to you—that's all."

Ishizu and Kaiba had been standing beside one another watching the Duel.

"That was so sweet of that girl," Ishizu said.

"Yeah," Seto said. "But sweet won't get you all the way to the top. You coming?"

Ishizu nodded though she didn't know where she was following him to. She sighed. _I can teach him_, she thought, _I can teach him just how far sweetness can get somebody._

Kaiba's elevator was supposed to go downward toward the cabins from the Duel Arena. But it was ascending.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked him. It felt as though they were being thrust to the stars. And in a way they were.

"I'm taking you to a very secret place. I had it built just for us."

There was a small table set for two and some wine and a violinist named Lorenzo. Tuxedoed waiters, their forearms curtained with white cloth, and a small dance floor. Kaiba took hold of Ishizu's body—his hold was strong yet fragile, and she didn't want to break it—not now and not ever. She could feel the blood rush up to her face and started to sweat. But Kaiba didn't care. She was beautiful, and she was his.

Then they were spinning, lost in a whirl of dark colour and young passion. Ishizu whispered, "What comes after, Seto? What comes after this?"

"I have thought so much about it, Ishizu. I want to open a school, where people can learn...I dunno, learn Dueling, as an art. I want to have children, and a daughter just like you. I want to get to know your brothers and your mom. Ishizu, I don't care what comes after as long as you say the word."

"What word?" Ishizu asked, perplexed.

"Say...yes, say okay, say something that shows your surrender is half so deep as mine. I have always, and will always be—"

But she never found out what her darling Seto would always be. She woke up in a straitjacket hours later with no recollection of the incident. Her mother was stroking her hair and singing.

"My baby," the mother cried. Ishizu tried to sit up but realized she couldn't move.

"Mother," she said. "I can't—I can't breathe."

Warm tears outpouring from her daughter's panicking eyes, Nephthys sighed and put her hand on her daughter's knee. "You must try."

"Mother—what happened?" Ishizu said, anticipating the worst, which she got. "Kaiba's waiter says you tried to attack Kaiba while you were dancing."

The dance, the elevator, Seto's speech, and his near-proposal all flooded back into poor Ishizu's memory.

"Is he hurt badly?"

Her mother nodded.

"Is he going to die?"

"We don't know, Ishizu," she said. "We just don't know."

"You have to take me to him," Ishizu said. "He needs me; I can feel it."

Ishizu was allowed to be transported to his side on a gurney. She looked at his unconscious body and was immediately choked up. But she couldn't cry.

"Seto," she whispered. "Something has to come after, remember?"

"Yes," said a voice. "Ishizu! Are you alright?"

"Seto," she said. He got up.

"Who did this to you?" he asked.

"It's for safety."

"You should be free," he said.

"No."

"Yes, Ishizu."

He made to undo her buckles but was held back by Nephthys. "My daughter knows what is best," she said. Seto nodded.

"Can I kiss her?"

"That's between the two of you," Nephthys said. "I'll just be going now..."

"I love you, Mother," Ishizu said. But her voice was lost in a jovial giggle and while Nephthys Ishtar was sure they weren't doing anything taboo she was sure she didn't want to know _what comes after_.


	9. Afraid

**Nine – Afraid**

"Ishizu, I'm sorry but I just can't play bondage freak with you," Kaiba said.

Ishizu stared at him kind of funny, like.

"Seto, this is the only way we can be together," she said. "Rethink what you're saying if you believe I wouldn't like to be a little child running about right now, or at least to be an old lady stuck in the shower."

Kaiba laughed through his big blue tears. "I've finally found someone who isn't a brother but who I know is my family. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Ishizu. I tried and I can't live it without you. Be my wife?"

And then she hurt him.

"Now is not the time to ask me such a question, Seto."

"Then, would you like me to wait till one or both of us is dead?"

"Seto, please—"

"Ishizu, you've never had a guy who got turned on by your hocus-pocus fortune-telling as much as I (secretly) have. And now you want a new life. Why can't I be a part of that new life?"

Ishizu studied him. She had clearly become the center of his world.

"I'm afraid," was all she said, after a moment's silence.

"You're _what_?" he cried out, disbelieving, and in inadvertently insensitive crudity.

"I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"I'm afraid. I'm not sure what it's of, but I know it isn't completely unfounded, though it may seem that way to you...Seto, tell me you're not—even a little bit nervous?"

"I'll tell you when I'm nervous," Kaiba said. "I'm nervous in front of the mirror when I know I'm about to see you. And when I do see you I'm terrified! But I know we belong together, Ishizu. Years ago it could be far more easily dismissed as young passion, but we're here now and I won't know how to go forward without you by my side."

"Okay," Ishizu cut him off. "Here's my only condition: I want you to stop working so late. You should have more time to yourself, or at least time to spend on me...I want children."

"I want to make children too!" Kaiba said. Ishizu laughed.

"I want children. And I want them to have a father that they see every day."

"Me too," he said.

Ishizu didn't notice how busily his hands had been working at her restraints. Then she was lifted into his arms and she knew how much he loved her.

"Marry me, Ishizu," he breathed.

"With all of my heart!"

He slipped a ring onto her finger—an old golden ring. "This ring belonged to an ancient Pharaoh by the name of Hatshepsut," he said. "I thought it seemed appropriate."

It was more expensive than any rock, and far more personal. Ishizu cried in his arms, barely able to stay on her feet.

Kaiba called together all the Duelists and their guests. "Ishizu and I have an announcement to make," he said. "Ishizu?"

"You do it, Seto," she said. Her friends and family noticed she was crying.

"We're engaged!" he cried.

Everyone applauded, and Kaiba declared that there would be a celebration in the cafeteria.

"Will it be a long engagement?" Nephthys asked her daughter and son-in-law-to-be.

"We're not sure," Ishizu replied, her mother's joy apparent in seeing her daughter and this nice young man so happy together.

"Mom!" Kaiba said.

"Yes, Seto?"

"I just wanted to hear what that would sound like."

His bride-to-be and her mother laughed with him.

The Duel that night still had to happen, and it was Bandit Keith versus the Mysterious Duelist who covered his face. Cicely and her friends thought they had seen him before but couldn't understand why he would cover his face if he was anyone they knew.

Bandit Keith lost, and miserably. But Marik also said that Keith seemed to be in a daze—he wasn't acting himself. He wasn't acting himself at all.

Kaiba walked Ishizu back to her room that night, thinking only of how beautiful she was and how much he loved her..._and how much she loved him_, his spirits were raised even higher when this thought came knocking at the door of his mind.

"Ishizu, Ishizu!" came a panicked voice.

"Téa?"

"Ishizu, Cicely's been hurt. Kaiba, someone bad who's not supposed to be is here aboard KaibaCraft. _Theirs _isthe magic that's been getting to you, Ishizu. Please, I'm afraid."

Cicely was out cold.

"Did you check for her cards?" Kaiba asked, knowing that his fiancée's friend would be devastated when she awoke to find an empty deck.

"They're gone, many of them," Téa said. "She had one Dark Magician left, under her hat, oddly enough. She'll be crushed, and I don't know what to do."

"There are microchips inside all of Pegasus' new cards. I can track them. That way we can catch these Rare Hunters red-handed and beat them at their own game."

"That's good," Ishizu said. She sat down in a chair at Cicely's bedside and stroked her friend's hair. Kyara entered.

"Is Cicely going to be okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Téa said. "But a lot of her cards are gone."

Kyara surprised everyone. "ARE YOU _JOKING_?!?" she exclaimed. When the others looked stunned, she proceeded to tell them that she, Kat, and Danny had gone to school with Cicely, Daphne, and Sona, and had been the one to turn Cicely onto Duel Monsters.

Cicely opened her eyes. "Guys," she said. "There are Rare Hunters on this ship. They continued even without Marik. They want money and they deal with the Black Market...they'll kill everyone aboard if it means they can have rare cards. We need to alert security. We need help."


End file.
